When To Go To WDW With A College Kid(Or Two) ?

[fayt19]

Hey, guys. I found these boards several months ago, and have been soaking up the knowledge ever since, even though my family doesn't have any immediate trips planned. Last year, though, we got to go to Disneyland Paris, which re-ignited the insane love I have for Disney.

So, my family's trying to move to Washington later this year, and I'm hoping we'll get annual passes for Disneyland. But, my family took a trip to Disney World in 2001, and though it was a really long time ago, I remember having a blast. So, I'm hoping to get to go back for my highschool graduation next year(ish... well, we'll get to that). I'm assuming since we'll have Disneyland so near we'll go there more often, so I'm hoping for this to be a last hurrah for WDW; at least, for a while.

Background: I'm currently seventeen, and homeschooled. My mom doesn't have a job, so she can go whenever. My dad mostly works at home, so even he's pretty flexible. It's my darned brother. He's in college, and so we would have to work around his schedule. We were considering going in May next year(although my mom and I HATE crowds, I know with the help of these amazing boards we could handle it), as soon as my brother's done with finals. My only problem with that is that Hogwarts won't be open at Universal Studios yet, and since I'm doubting I'll get to go Disney World very often, I really want to see that! The last time we went was in December '01, and it was amazing, no crowds. I know the parks have just gotten busier and busier, but I'm still hoping we can go during a 'decent' time. So, with my brother, if we chose to go in December next year, we probably couldn't go until atleast after the 10th, which I wouldn't be terribly thrilled with, since I know the parks just get busier and busier until Christmas.

So, my mom suggested, "Why not January 2011? Then both you and your brother could celebrate graduating." Since he'll have graduated college by then. Great, except then, I'll probably already be enrolled in college myself ! We checked the site of the school I'll likely attend in Washington, and classes start back on January 11th. I said, "Well, Mom, we can't go then, because we wouldn't have enough time." She said, "We'll have a week!" But I don't think a week is enough. I'd love to have a week-and-a-half.

So, my more organized questions are:

1) Does anyone else have college kids to deal with when trying to plan a Disney trip? How do you deal with it? Like, are there any good breaks college kids get that would be a good time to go? A longer break like Spring Break is what I have in mind, although I'm much too well-educated by the DIS to ever consider going then. When have you gone? Is summer horrendous?

2) How much time would you suggest for our trip? My brother was in the room when my mother and I were discussing the trip, and he said, "We've already been; we wouldn't need that much time to do everything, since we've already done it." Blasphemous, I know! I told him my DISboarders would be horrified. So, if we ended up going in January '11, we'd probably have seven, eight, or nine days if I could squeeze it out of my parents. Would that be enough? I was hoping to stay in a nice hotel(we stayed in the Polynesian last time), and get to have breaks in the middle of the day, but if we only had a week to see everything... I was also hoping to see La Nouba and/or Blue Man Group, but now I'm not so certain.

3) Has anyone else here gone in January? Apparently crowds are supposed to be pretty low. That's the only reason I'm still hopeful for January '11, since maybe if the crowds are lower, we could get more accomplished in less time?

Sorry, guys, I'm just freaking out over all of this, even if the trip isn't for a long while! Thanks so, so much for any advice you can give me! And I'm super welcome to all suggestions. Sorry for the novel.

 

[fayt19]

Polite bump...

 

[karliebug]

I would go in May when college lets out for the year. This year my DD got done May 6, which would have been a perfect time to go. I would avoid spring break . Summer is fun because while it is crowded the parks are open much later than at other times of the year. It is very hot,hot, hot though. I vote for May, as soon as your finals are done. Have fun!!

 

[PatsMom]

The college my DD is going to doesn't start Christmas break until the week of Christmas so December is out for us. But she is out of school until Martin Luther King day so we are going the second week of January.

To us a week is plenty but we go at least once a year, sometimes more!

 

[fayt19]

The college my DD is going to doesn't start Christmas break until the week of Christmas so December is out for us. But she is out of school until Martin Luther King day so we are going the second week of January.

To us a week is plenty but we go at least once a year, sometimes more!

That's awesome! Wish I got to go that often.

 

[fayt19]

I would go in May when college lets out for the year. This year my DD got done May 6, which would have been a perfect time to go. I would avoid spring break . Summer is fun because while it is crowded the parks are open much later than at other times of the year. It is very hot,hot, hot though. I vote for May, as soon as your finals are done. Have fun!!

Thanks for the reply. I'm still not sure about May, as my family and I hate crowds and heat, but if it's the only time we can go, we'll just have to suffer through it.

 

[PatsMom]

Thanks for the reply. I'm still not sure about May, as my family and I hate crowds and heat, but if it's the only time we can go, we'll just have to suffer through it.

I would seriously consider the shorter stay in early January over a longer stay in May. January crowds are lower so you could end up actually being able to experience more attractions. And the heat isn't a factor. If you are used to a cooler climate, you might be like us and find that January is sweatshirt weather at worst and swimming weather at best. May is getting into being too hot and humid for us if we have an alternative, which is why we are doing January!

If you want to go that often, study hard and get a good job when you get out of college! I tell my DD that her incentive to do well is going to be being able to afford to maintain our DVC points once we are gone because we are trying to spend the rest of her inheritance on vacations.

 

[fayt19]

I would seriously consider the shorter stay in early January over a longer stay in May. January crowds are lower so you could end up actually being able to experience more attractions. And the heat isn't a factor. If you are used to a cooler climate, you might be like us and find that January is sweatshirt weather at worst and swimming weather at best. May is getting into being too hot and humid for us if we have an alternative, which is why we are doing January!

If you want to go that often, study hard and get a good job when you get out of college! I tell my DD that her incentive to do well is going to be being able to afford to maintain our DVC points once we are gone because we are trying to spend the rest of her inheritance on vacations.

Thanks for the insightful reply. We're thinking January might be our best bet. And, haha, that's awesome about your daughter! I am already hoping to find a husband in college that will agree to take our babies to Disney with me. So I'd definitely want to make a healthy amount of money. And I also want to earn enough so that I can have a little cushion. I've had a wonderful upbringing and gotten to take lots of awesome trips, so I'm hoping to do the same for my children.

 

[aestapa]

In 93 or so, my brother and I went the first week of my winter break. It was the week or so before Christmas week. I remember being alone at DHS (then MGM)! We got on Star Tours and the CM said "Um, I'd like to thank all 6 of you for coming today". The last day of our trip began Christmas week. We drove to MK, saw the enormous crowd and left.

Its not that empty during Dec. these days, but check touringplans.com for crowd estimates. Take advantage of going during a lower season for the sake of rates and fewer crowds.

 

[srwarden1928]

We are taking our DN for her first trip to Disney. She just finished her junior year in college. We are going this June.